Maui wrote:I watched the entire season of The Crown on Netflix. This is a top notch series with superb acting by Claire Foy, John Lithgow and Dr. Who (aka Matt Smith). The story line for Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend's ill-fated love affair is heartbreaking to watch. Can't wait for season 2.

Maui wrote:I watched the entire season of The Crown on Netflix. This is a top notch series with superb acting by Claire Foy, John Lithgow and Dr. Who (aka Matt Smith). The story line for Princess Margaret and Peter Townsend's ill-fated love affair is heartbreaking to watch. Can't wait for season 2.

Angie Han wrote:It’s hard to get too excited about video game movies right now, considering Hollywood’s still-pretty-terrible track record with them, but maybe a video game TV series will have better luck. It appears Castlevania could be making its way to the small screen, from Adventure Time executive producer Fred Seibert.

DAVE TRUMBORE wrote:We’ve been hearing rumblings of a Castlevania animated series in the works for a few months now, but didn’t have much to go on other than whispers emanating from torch-lit corridors. Now, however, after seeing producer Adi Shankar make mention of a Castlevania project over social media, our own Steve Weintraub reached out to him to see just what was up his armored sleeve. It seems that Shankar himself will be bringing the Belmont family (back) to life as a “hard-hitting anime” style animated series.

Question: How did the project come about?

Adi Shankar: In a meeting with Kevin Kolde … he’s a really awesome dude. Frederator and Kevin acquired the rights a few years ago.

First of all, the fact that the independent animation studio Frederator is involved with the production such give this project a huge amount of credibility. This is the same team that’s behind smash hits such as Adventure Time and The Fairly OddParents. Secondly, it’s great to hear that they’ve acquired the adaptation rights to the Konami game since that will presumably allow them to put their own spin on the series without too much interference from outside.

Hoai-Tran Bui wrote:Netflix joins the race for superhero world domination, making its first-ever publishing acquisition with Millarworld, the comics publisher behind Kingsman, Kick-Ass, and other projects spearheaded by writer Mark Millar.

The streaming company announced that it bought Millarworld on Monday. Though the terms of the transaction weren’t clear, Netflix said it will develop films, TV shows and kids’ series based on Millarworld series. Millarworld, in turn, will publish new stories under the Netflix label.

The little streaming company that could is on its way to becoming a superhero titan the likes of Warner Bros., which has owned DC Comics since 1968, and Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009. Millarworld is a lesser known comics company to be sure, though several film adaptations of its properties have been met with critical and commercial success, like Kick-Ass and Kingsman: The Secret Service.

Since it’s just an acquisition, we have no way of knowing whether this will be a smart step for Netflix whose past business decisions, like its four-movie deal with Adam Sandler, have been somewhat questionable. However Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos seems to have a lot of confidence in the deal with Millarworld, going so far as to call the comic book publisher’s founder Mark Millar a “modern-day Stan Lee.” Which is…high praise.

Sarandos announced the deal on Monday with a press release and Netflix teaser video highlighting some of Millarworld’s most renowned releases.

Sarandos continued his praise of Millar, and teased the type of content that Netflix would produce out of this acquisition:

“Mark has created a next-generation comics universe, full of indelible characters living in situations people around the world can identify easily with. We look forward to creating new Netflix Originals from several existing franchises as well as new super-hero, anti-hero, fantasy, sci-fi and horror stories Mark and his team will continue to create and publish.”

Millar runs Millarworld with his wife, Lucy Millar. He started the publishing company in 2004, which has since gone on to create 18 franchises. Wanted, Kick-Ass and Kingsman have been adapted for the big screen to varying degrees of success, though together the films have grossed $1 billion at the global box office.

Millar wrote on his website that he’s taking a hiatus from producing new comics to fly to Los Angeles and “strategise the next steps… you’ll be hearing about each fascinating turn when I’m allowed to share it.”

I’m not hugely familiar with the works from Millarworld, having only seen the silver screen adaptations of Wanted, Kick-Ass and Kingsman. Netflix does seem like an appropriate home for graphic, boundary-pushing comics like those mentioned above, though I feel like some of the success of Kick-Ass and Kingsman can be attributed to the directorial flair of Matthew Vaughn, who took a lot of creative liberties with his adaptations of the properties. We’ll see if this is the beginning of Netflix’s journey to becoming a studio that can rival Warner Bros. or Disney, which currently dominate the superhero landscape in both the big and small screens.

Disney announced during its latest earnings report it intends to pull all its movies from Netflix

It also will launch an ESPN video streaming service in early 2018, including MLB, NHL and MLS content.

There's also plans to launch a branded Disney direct to consumer streaming service in 2019

The company announced during its latest earnings report on Tuesday it intends to remove its movies from Netflix.

Instead, Disney plans to launch a branded direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019 starting in the U.S. and expanding globally.

CEO Bob Iger told CNBC's Julia Boorstin Disney had a "good relationship" with Netflix, but decided to exercise an option to move its content off the platform. Movies to be removed include Disney as well as Pixar's titles, according to Iger. Netflix said Disney movies will be available through the end of 2018 on its platform. Marvel TV shows will remain.

The new platform will be the home for all Disney movies going forward, starting with the 2019 theatrical slate which includes "Toy Story 4," "Frozen 2," and the upcoming live-action "The Lion King." It will also be making a "significant investment" in exclusive movies and television series for the new platform.

The company will also launch its own ESPN video streaming service in early 2018. The platform, which will feature about 10,000 sporting events each year, will have content from the MLB, NHL, MLS, collegiate sports and tennis' Grand Slam events.

To power the services, Disney is buying a majority ownership of BAM Tech for $1.58 billion. Disney bought a 33 percent stake in the company, which was spun off from digital media company MLB Advanced Media, in August 2016.

"This represents a big strategic shift for the company," Iger said to CNBC. "We felt that having control of a platform we've been very impressed with after buying 33 percent of it a year ago would give us control of our destiny."

Netflix stock dropped more than 5 percent upon announcement of the news.

io9:Disney Is Planning to Pull All of Its Movies From Netflix and Start Its Own Streaming Service [Updated]

James Whitbrook wrote:UPDATE 08/08 5.45PM: Speaking to the press on a media call in the wake of the announcement, Disney CEO Bob Iger noted that while Disney’s own movies would definitely move over to the new services, the rights of the Star Wars and Marvel films are still being decided—and in fact, those movies specifically could stay exclusive to a place like Netflix